Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 6475892" data-attributes="member: 92511">You don't have to like it, but the sentiment is not &quot;crap&quot;.The sentiment is the reason why they [single race-classes] were.It is why OD&amp;D through BECM had single racial classes. That was the explanation for &quot;all dwarves are dwarves&quot;...and, even in 1e, it was called out specifically for all non-humans that NPC demi-humans might be different classes and/or levels than PC adventurer demi-humans were &quot;allowed&quot; to be. The dwarf/elf/halfling society could have clerics, for example, while PC elves/dwarves/halflings could not be [until Unearthed Arcana].Make an NPC lord/villain/wanderer that's a dwarf paladin, an elf illusionist, a halfling druid...while PCs were restricted, essentially, to Fighter and/or Thief (+ Magic-user for elves, + Illusionist for gnomes). The &quot;Half-&quot; races had a few more options (kind of a moot point as these weren't portrayed as having a &quot;society&quot; of their own), but still not anything they wanted. And, even after 1e's UA and the coming of 2e, there were more options open to non-human PCs, but still not &quot;any race can choose any class.&quot;That didn't happen until 3e.So, don't like it. Fine. I agree with your general point, it doesn't &quot;make sense&quot; if taking a &quot;whole society&quot; view. But the game did not do that, or start out that way, and specifically said it didn't.You can not argue against what already was/has happened. It was the way it was and &quot;because the adventurer demi-humans travelling outside their people's lands are all this&quot; was the reason why. All of that, quite simply, is the history of this game you're playing. That is what was, what came before, what was created from scratch with naught but some books, myths and folklore (not all of them of the same quality or even what would be considered &quot;literature&quot;) as a jumping off point...no internet to look things up, no video games, no [so-called] smart (or even cordless) phones, no in-depth anthropological or sociological examinations (though perhaps some over-/undertones).It isn't &quot;crap.&quot; It was the reason at the time...and still is for those using who continue to play and enjoy those editions, and several retro-clone/OSR games.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 6475892, member: 92511"] You don't have to like it, but the sentiment is not "crap". The sentiment is the reason why they [single race-classes] [I]were[/I]. It is why OD&D through BECM had single racial classes. That was the explanation for "all dwarves are dwarves"...and, even in 1e, it was called out specifically for all non-humans that [I]NPC[/I] demi-humans might be different classes and/or levels than PC adventurer demi-humans were "allowed" to be. The dwarf/elf/halfling[I] society [/I]could have clerics, for example, while PC elves/dwarves/halflings could not be [until Unearthed Arcana]. Make an NPC lord/villain/wanderer that's a dwarf paladin, an elf illusionist, a halfling druid...while PCs were restricted, essentially, to Fighter and/or Thief (+ Magic-user for elves, + Illusionist for gnomes). The "Half-" races had[I] a few [/I]more options (kind of a moot point as these weren't portrayed as having a "society" of their own), but still not anything they wanted. And, even after 1e's UA and the coming of 2e, there were [I]more[/I] options open to non-human PCs, but still not "any race can choose any class." That didn't happen until 3e. So, don't like it. Fine. I agree with your general point, it doesn't "make sense" if taking a "whole society" view. But the game did not do that, or start out that way, and specifically said it didn't. You can not argue against what already was/has happened. It was the way it was and "because the adventurer demi-humans travelling outside their people's lands are all this" was the reason why. All of that, quite simply, is the history of this game you're playing. That [I]is[/I] what was, what came before, what was created from scratch with naught but some books, myths and folklore (not all of them of the same quality or even what would be considered "literature") as a jumping off point...no internet to look things up, no video games, no [so-called] smart (or even cordless) phones, no in-depth anthropological or sociological examinations (though perhaps some over-/undertones). It isn't "crap." It was the reason at the time...and still is for those using who continue to play and enjoy those editions, and several retro-clone/OSR games. [/QUOTE]

Verification